Touch
by Lost-Remembrance
Summary: Arou gets into a spot of trouble with his ability and impresses the wrong people who notice and take into account his unusual ability...


Disclaimer: I don't own Land of the Blindfolded or any of the characters in the manga.

Notes: This is actually pretty old: I had been working on bits of it here and there cause the idea was bothering me, but... Here is a Land of the Blindfolded fanfiction, because there simply aren't enough of them out there--and not enough with Arou!

**Touch**

by: Lost-Remembrance (Red Tail)

**Chapter One:**

Namiki squinted as he raised a hand over his eyes to shield from the bright sun in the sky. The rays warmed his sky and gave him a cozy feeling that made him want to take a nap. The cry of the gulls and the sounds of the waves lapping against the sand gave a certain lazy feel to the atmosphere.

Sighing, he leaned back onto the beach blanket he sprawled himself out on, keeping his face and torso protect from the blinding light while the help of a beach umbrella he took shelter under. Arou was close by, napping in the warm summer air.

Kanade and Eiichirou were off in the water with another group of girls that were from their class. A couple of the guys had rounded up some people and gotten a game of beach volleyball going, while other classmates not involved in the game lounged about or cheered on people. Ezawa, of course, was flirting with his girlfriend.

That sight made Namiki glance down at Arou, who was in a semi-fetal position and napping like a blissful cat. At first, he had wondered why Arou wasn't out there with Kanade, but when he thought about it for a while, he had realized it wasn't too difficult to understand. If he was feeling sick or under the weather, a nap was the perfect excuse for Mr. I'm All Right to rest up and re-energize himself.

Arou was always someone who kept things pretty put to himself. He didn't go around telling the world when he was sick or feeling upset. On occasions, he told Kanade, but he was a pretty secretive guy.

Today, the class was scheduled to go to the beach, and it was by no means unoccupied. There were crowds of people, soaking up the chance to be at the beach on a wonderful spring (nearly summer) day.

Why wasn't Namiki in the water trying to steal Kanade's heart away from Arou's? Well, he tended to play dirty, but he decided that it was worth his best interest if he at least allowed Arou to make a comeback or stop him from stealing his girlfriend's heart away.

Honestly, Namiki question the teacher's sanity when it was announced they were going to Hokkaido to enjoy their "Spring" Vacation trip before school was let out. The beaches were sure to be packed, especially with the weather they had been graced with.

Kanade ran up to Namiki and a snoozing Arou, a smile plastered on her face as usual. She waved at Namiki as she approached. "Hey! Enjoying the weather?" She questioned, seating herself down close to Arou, who didn't budge an inch or wake from the noise and movement Kanade made.

"Yup." Namiki glanced down at the slumbering teen once more. "He's really out, isn't he?"

Kanade smiled gently as she looked down at Arou's face. All the muscles were lax and an innocent look surrounded him. Her face softened as she gazed down at him. "Yeah."

Namiki got closer to Kanade while her head was turned. He grinned like a Cheshire cat as she turned back around to face him, and realized how close they were. She gave a small 'eeep!' and her face turned bright red at the distance between the two of them. Their noses were almost touching in an Eskimo kiss.

At Kanade's noise, Arou blinked awake, looking extremely tired to the two watchers.

"Ah, Arou-kun! Did I wake you? I'm sorry!" Kanade still had a blush on her cheeks, but she had edged away from Namiki and gotten closer to Arou instead.

"Hmm?" Arou tried to blink away the sleep from his eyes. "Are we leaving?" He questioned, glancing around to see the position the sun was in.

Namiki looked around at the other students, who were starting to wrap up what they were doing; final score in the game, or drying off from a dip in the ocean. "I guess so." He got up, dusting imaginary sand from his swim trunks that had only been wet once or twice throughout their day. He offered a hand to Arou, who took it in acceptance as he let Namiki pull him to his feet.

"Thanks." Arou mumbled, still sleepy.

Kanade got to her feet herself, smiling at the exchange between the two. 'It is so good that they're friends,' she thought, smile still resting on her face.

A teacher went around, rounding up all the students towards the busses to take them back to their lodgings. As each student went onto the bus, their name was checked off until every student was on the bus and ready to leave.

"That was so much fun!" Kanade smiled, looking at Arou who was in the seat next to her. "Did you have a good nap?"

"Mm-hmm." Arou said, a lazed smile on his face. He had slowly woken up from his sleepy daze and became aware of the world around him.

The rest of the bus ride was filled with the idle and mundane chatter of the students recounting their moments of fun or pleasure at the beach. One girl was annoyed when she spoke of how a boy from their class had managed to find a crab and wave it in her face for a moment. Retribution had been swift, she said with a smirk on her face, for the crab had pinched him with a claw on the finger. Said boy was sitting nearby and scowled when he friends laughed at the story. He crossed his arms and made some snide remarks, but was otherwise quite collected.

Back at the hotel, the students all gathered in the lobby of the building. Some went off to their rooms to shower, read, or watch some TV before supper would be served. Other students like Kanade, Namiki, Arou, Eri, and Ezawa stayed in the lobby to chat.

Arou sat down in one of the couches located in the lobby and Namiki took a seat next to him. Arou's hands brushed against a nearby hair clip and his eyes went wide, lost in a sudden flashback from the owner's past. He jerked away from the offended object, hands shaking slightly. A bead of sweat trickled down his chin and Namiki, who was previously engaged in a conversation with a girl beside him, looked over in question at the shaken teen.

"Are you all right?" He asked with suspicion tinged in his voice. Arou nodded, and Namiki slowly turned back to the girl he was talking with, as if unsure about Arou's answer.

Arou didn't notice the keen eyes watching him from nearby, dark sunglasses lowed to the bridge of the figure's nose so he could clearly see the person he was watching. The shadowed figure had a thoughtful look on his face before he dispersed away up to his room. When most of the teenagers had left, he would return to the lobby and fetch the hair clip.

"Hey, Arou!" Kanade smiled as she handed a can of peach soda over to her boyfriend. The dark haired teen smiled at her and took it with words of gratitude spilling from his mouth, cheeks already in a cherry blush as he tried to look away from her as soon as possible.

Kanade had come into the room earlier; her own face flushed red with embarrassment. Eri had taken it upon herself to give her best friend a little wardrobe knowledge and lent her an outfit.

Kanade had taken one look at the outfit and blushed. "E-Eri-!" The brown haired girl protested, blushing profusely all the way. The outfit was quite beautiful. It was a deep teal spaghetti-strapped top that was quite tight on her body, and a black mini-skirt complimented the look.

"Hmm?" Her friend questioned, looking up from her search for some clothing for her to wear when she went out with Ezawa-kun. "What is it, Kanade?"

"I-I can't wear this!" Kanade's hands had already moved to take off the clothing from her body as she said this.

"No!" Eri lunged forward and stilled Kanade's hands. She smiled at her friend, "Arou will love seeing you like this! Besides, I'm sure that you've wanted to have a little alone time with him, right? This is the perfect way to spend it. Besides, it's supposed to get even hotter so if you got outside, you won't have a heat stroke."

Kanade dizzily nodded as her friend listed off various reasons why she should keep the scantily clad outfit on her. Eri grinned happily and clapped her friend on the back, picking up some clothing that she had dug out from her bag.

"Ezawa-kun and I are going to go and walk around and see the shops and sights for a little bit. We've got about two hours free time." She disappeared into the bathroom of their shared room. As she closed the door, she shouted behind her merrily, "Have a good time with Arou-kun!"

Kanade blushed and turned, heading out the door and over to where Namiki and Arou had been lucky enough to room together. She padded through the carpeted hallways of the hotel towards where most of the boys were assigned.

Thinking back, Kanade was grateful that she talked to the teacher. Namiki and Arou were friends, and it was only fair that if she was roomed with a friend, so should they. The teacher had been more than happy to oblige when Kanade asked for Namiki and Arou to be roomed together, mainly because he had asked Arou to cook Italian food one night for him and his wife in exchange. Arou had agreed, Kanade looked relieved, and Namiki had just grinned.

Now was back to their present situation. A movie was on the TV, one that Kanade had wanted to see. Her and Arou had decided to order some appetizers from room service, get some non-alcoholic drinks, and have a relaxed and calming movie moment. Kanade smiled at the plan. Arou didn't look like he'd be able to make it through a shopping trip like Ezawa-kun without falling asleep.

Speaking of sleep, Kanade smiled as her eyes lazily drifted from the screen to Arou, who was fast asleep with a blanket draped over him with Kanade's shoulder being used as a prop for his pillow. Turning her eyes once more back to the television, she closed her eyes also to take in the moment. She yawned and blinked blearily. She decided to briefly close her eyes, just for a moment…

"Hey, now! That's not fair!" Kanade jerked away, almost bumping her head into Namiki's head in her haste. Blearily, she blinked her eyes and tried to remember where she was and why Namiki was there. Wasn't she in her room?

Namiki just grinned all the while, hoping that his incessant noise and protest of Arou trying to make a move on Kanade while he was gone would awake the dark-haired teen. He frowned when it did nothing to the teen, but did startle Kanade awake.

"Hm…" He bore a thoughtful expression on his face for a moment before he suddenly grinned. "Sorry about that, Kanade-chan!"

"A-ah, it's all right, Namiki-san!" Kanade blushed from head to toe when she realized she had fallen asleep in Arou's arms. She got out of the bed and brushed out some of the wrinkles in her clothing.

Grabbing her shoes, she hurriedly put them on. "I had better go before they do room checks and announce curfew! Bye!" She gave a hurried wave of farewell, opened the door quietly, and left quickly down the hall.

Namiki was left staring at the slumbering, dead-to-the-world Arou.

**TBC**


End file.
